The German truck and bus manufacturer Traton, a subsidiary of Volkswagen, will launch the first electric urban buses of its MAN and Scania brands next year, said Andreas Renschler, president of Traton, in Södertälje, near Stockholm.
“In the next few years, a third of the trucks and buses of our brands could work with alternative propulsions, most of them fully electric,” Renchsler said.
The director of Traton’s research and development areas, Christian Levin, commented that work is being done jointly on the development of an electric kinematic chain that will be used on electric city buses in 2020.
Levin also pointed out that, until 2025, Traton will respectively invest 1,000 million euros (1,091 million dollars) in research and development for electric mobility and digitalization.
Within the group, the Scania brand is a leader in innovation of sustainable transport solutions. “Our goal is to become the leading manufacturer of trucks and electric buses,” Renschler said.
The manager added that, at present, the demand is halted by the lack of infrastructure to charge batteries and the high costs of acquisition and operation of electric vehicles. On costs, delivery trucks and electric city buses are likely to match diesel vehicles in the medium term.
In Renschler’s opinion, purchase premiums should be paid and “a European master plan for cargo infrastructure” should be created. The executive added that the Ambev brewing group commissioned 1,600 electric trucks from Volkswagen Caminhoes in Brazil, delivery will begin next year and that MAN has already sold 150 electric vans.
Source: dpa
